From The Marbles

Brad Keselowski's day nearly went sideways during a green-flag pit stop in the first half of Sunday's race at Pocono. And he nearly had some injured crew members too.

Keselowski's front tires locked under braking as he pulled into his pit stall and his car slid through the pit box. As his car didn't slow appropriately and his crew was waiting for him in the box, Keselowski hit multiple members of his crew and one of the tires that was supposed to get on his car went rolling down pit road.

It was a scary moment for all involved, especially the crew member carrying the jack. It nearly fell on top of him as he tumbled through the air.

Keselowski was told that his crew members were OK. And in addition to the long pit stop because of the near-calamity, he had to serve a pass-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire.

The sequence could have put a damper on Keselowski's day. Instead, his car was fast enough to get him back into the top 10 and he was able to catch a break as the top three drivers with three laps to go all ran out of fuel. Keselowski did too. But later than they did.

Joey Logano was cruising to victory in Sunday's race at Pocono. And then Kyle Busch looked poised to win his fourth race in a row.

But neither of them won. Instead, it was Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth, who made his fuel tank last to the end while Logano and Busch ran out of gas.

Teams usually work the races at Pocono backwards, meaning they calculate their fuel mileage from the end of the race and try make their final pit stop as soon as possible. At most NASCAR races, teams pit whenever they can under caution periods for fresh tires as tires are more important than track position.

At Pocono, laps at the 2.5-mile track can take so long that drivers can pit under green flag conditions without losing a lap. And with track position at a premium, pitting under green is more beneficial than pitting under a caution flag and potentially losing spots to other teams.

The second half of Sunday's race had lots of green flag laps and Jimmie Johnson set off the final round of green flag stops with 38 laps to go. As teams copycatted Johnson's strategy it meant they were pitting right on the edge of their fuel window.

A Sprint Cup Series car hit the pit road wall at Pocono for the second time in two days on Sunday.

In the opening laps of Sunday's race, Kasey Kahne's car snapped loose off turn three. He slid into pit road and smashed into the wall that separates pit lane from where the crews and fans stand.

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The impact from Kahne's hit was so hard that a piece of his car was wedged into the wall, which appeared to bend at a joint. The wall did its job and held up, but NASCAR red-flagged the race so welders could repair a gap that was created in it.

Pit crews put their helmets on the wall when they're not using them. Those helmets became veritable cannonballs as they were launched towards the pit boxes when Kahne's car made impact with the wall. NASCAR said no one was hurt behind pit wall. Kahne was OK.

Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman spoke publicly Saturday for the first time since his purchase of part of Chip Ganassi Racing was announced earlier in the week. After saying that he and Waltrip were close friends and business partners, Kauffman said his purchase was an "integration" rather than a step away from MWR.

"... So any idea that like I'm leaving or taking anything is misplaced," Kauffman said. "What we're actually doing is integrating the businesses, trying to get the most competitive product on track, the best for all of our partners and that's really our focus." "It's a competitive business, as everybody knows. It's competitive on track as well as off track. The focus we're really trying to get to get this news out was to get it out of the way because rumors were bubbling and try and be as clear as we can and refocus everybody on 2015 and hopefully getting one or two cars in the Chase and doing a great job with our partners."

Busch, who has won four of the last five Sprint Cup Series races, posted the fastest lap (178.416 MPH) in the third round of Friday's qualifying session at Pocono and will start first for Sunday's race.

"I told you that I had a fast car, I just wasn't sure we could get the balance of it right," Busch said. "There right at the end, that last run, was the best it's been all day."

Busch unseated Joey Logano for the top spot in qualifying and survived a fast lap by Kevin Harvick, the only other driver to post a lap over 178 MPH. Logano starts third while Austin Dillon starts fourth and Tony Stewart starts fifth.

Harvick posted the fastest lap of the second round while Stewart was fastest in the first round.

If Kyle Busch wins at Pocono and gets his fifth win in six races, it'd be his first win at the 2.5-mile triangle. Busch has eight top-10 finishes in 21 starts at the track. He won the pole there in 2010 and finished second to teammate Denny Hamlin.

As the future of Michael Waltrip Racing is unknown, Clint Bowyer made a statement after Friday's practice at Pocono.

Bowyer has been mentioned as possibly switching teams before the 2016 season as MWR co-owner Rob Kauffman has purchased part of Chip Ganassi Racing. Without Kauffman's funding – he owned 50 percent of MWR – the future of MWR looks tenuous. The team does not have a manufacturer deal signed for 2016. It also doesn't have a driver for the No. 55 car or a sponsor as the contract of Aaron's is up at the end of the year.

Bowyer, who recently signed an extension with MWR along with sponsor 5-Hour Energy, could go to Ganassi and be a teammate to Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray.

Throughout the week you can send us your best questions, jokes, rants and just plain miscellaneous thoughts to happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com or @NickBromberg. We'll post them here and have a good time.

Welcome to Happy Hour. Have you woken up from Indianapolis yet?

We kid. We kid. The race featured one more lead change than it did last year!

NASCAR said that it's going to try the Indianapolis rules changes at Michigan as scheduled despite the lack of action and poor reviews at Indy. And that's the smart move. NASCAR is trying to portray itself as being very pragmatic when it comes to changing the rules, even if their actions aren't totally backing the public statements up (more on that in a minute).

Kauffman purchased part of Michael Waltrip Racing in October 2007 as the team was struggling in its debut season in the Sprint Cup Series. The team has had success since Kauffman's arrival but has struggled since the race manipulation tactics it used at Richmond. NAPA, a long-time sponsor of the team, left after the shenanigans and went to sponsor Chase Elliott. The loss of the company forced MWR to move to two cars.

As speculation about Michael Waltrip Racing's 2016 manufacturer mounts, it may have more things different about it next season that simply the make of the car.

According to the Sports Business Journal, MWR co-owner Rob Kauffman is "close" to purcahsing Felix Sabates' stake in Chip Ganassi Racing. In doing so he would take the No. 15 and Clint Bowyer with him to Ganassi and the team would be a three-car team in 2016 with Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson.

MWR has been mentioned as possibly moving to Chevrolet in 2016 but this is a wrinkle about the team's future that hasn't been publicly mentioned until today.

Unsecured ballast during practice at Indianapolis meant a pretty hefty fine and a suspension for Premium Motorsports.

Timmy Hill's car lost a piece of tungsten during one of Friday's practice sessions. As a result, crew chief Scott Eggleston was suspended for a race and fined $25,000. By NASCAR's penalty grading system it's a P3 penalty.

Car chief Kevin Eagle was also suspended. Both were put on probation until the end of the season and the team was penalized 15 points.

The tungsten adds weight to the car to help it reach the minimum 3,250 pound weight while empty. Unsecured tungsten can be dangerous if it falls out on the track while cars are at speed. Just look at what happened at Iowa.